Community
We aim to address any public health risks that may impact our workforce, their families or the communities associated with our operations. We are committed to working with communities, public health authorities and other stakeholders to improve education, protection and prevention of public health risks and widespread diseases. We seek to minimise any health risks from our operations to the broader community, including through comprehensive air quality and dust monitoring programmes, initiatives to remediate areas of historic contamination and community information campaigns. The major public health issues we face in some regions are HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
In 2007, Xstrata Coal South Africa, through its partner Re-Action!, entered into a collaborative relationship with the local government of the Mpumalanga Province, non-governmental organisations and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), forming a Public Private Mix (PPM). Building on our workplace wellness, occupational health and safety services, the PPM is working to strengthen community-based health systems.
The PPM is active in three districts in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, where there are many mining operations and the rural and remote locations of the company sites have resulted in high numbers of migrant labour. Mpumalanga has a population of 3.5 million and community settlements are widely dispersed throughout the province, posing a challenge to immediate and nearby access to health services. Approximately one in four adults in the province is living with HIV.
The PPM programme began by specifically targeting the treatment of HIV and AIDS and TB. It integrates broader development objectives of economic empowerment, gender-specific programming, nutrition and education to create and sustain economic growth in communities. The bottom-up grassroots service is complemented with efforts to build capacity and support infrastructure in local clinics and hospitals to increase rural communities’ access to HIV, AIDS and TB services.